Where else in Australia (or the world) are there coastal lakes with barrages? Barrages (ie. dams) that stop the flow of a river from flowing to the sea? Barrages that are now preventing the flow of seawater into the coastal lakes leaving them high and dry.
Below are two examples of freshwater lakes and estuaries around Australia that have evolved to different water systems. Neither have chosen to use barrages to create an unnatural high freshwater lake system.
Read how other states have managed to keep their coastal lakes full of water. And read how in both these cases they have managed to create Ramsar listed wetlands and sustainable tourism and fishing industries.
The Gippsland Lakes have an artificial entrance into what was previously a freshwater lake system and now support a commercial fishing industry and tourism industry worth over $200 million per year. Read more...
The lake-like estuary and its Coorong-like leg suffered from algal and weed infestations,and polluted runoff of superphosphate from adjacent cropping and grazing agricultural lands. Combined with the lack of freshwater flows from its three main rivers, and low tidal flows, the Peel-Harvey Estuary was an environmental mess...Read more...
To view an aerial photo of the Lower Lakes region from December 2009, click here.